10 William St, Paddington

Daniel Pepperell’s all-star menu at 10 William St is severely awesome. We’re off to a good start with a whipped bottarga pretzel speckled with grated bottarga. I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to pretzels because I grew up in Germany, but even so it’s a delicious thing. It doesn’t really taste like a pretzel at all, but instead the spotlight is on the buttload of seeds hugging the crust. Plus it looks like a smiley face. How can you hate on that.

I’m a cucumber-lover, so the cucumber with buffalo milk and parsley is freaking great in my books. The texture of the cucumber is like it’s been pickled, but it doesn’t taste acidic. It confuses my taste buds. But it’s very, very good.

I order the pizza fritta because, let’s be honest, it has the word pizza in it. But my mind is blown when I discover that it’s a FRIED PIZZA. It’s even better – dare I say it – than a regular pizza. The pizza dough is fried, then topped with a super-tasty tomato sauce, garlic and parmesan before it’s (presumably) grilled again. I want to eat this every day, all day.

Next we have the papardelle bolognese. It’s conveniently already divided onto two plates when it arrives at our table. It’s so rich and hearty – my mouth is literally watering as I’m sitting here thinking about it. For dessert we share the tiramisu, which is frankly the best I’ve had in Sydney, and the tropical paradiso, a zingy bowl of mango custard, finger lime, lychees and coconut granita.

My only qualm with 10 William St is the whole no-bookings thing. And the fact that it’s rampant with Paddo locals in OOTDs that look like they would cost me a year’s worth of rent. Our blatant Redfern-ness felt very out of place here.

Anyway, I want to go back ASAP. End of story.

10 William St10 William St, Paddington5pm till midnight

Great start to the mealClose up of the pretzel with whipped bottargaCucumber, buffalo milk, parsleyApple, maple cream, avrugaPizza frittaPapardelle bologneseThe best tiramisu everTropical Paradiso